n. [ OE. stalke, fr. AS. stael, stel, a stalk. See Stale a handle, Stall. ] 1. (Bot.) (a) The stem or main axis of a plant; as, a stalk of wheat, rye, or oats; the stalks of maize or hemp. (b) The petiole, pedicel, or peduncle, of a plant. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which resembles the stalk of a plant, as the stem of a quill. Grew. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Arch.) An ornament in the Corinthian capital resembling the stalk of a plant, from which the volutes and helices spring. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. One of the two upright pieces of a ladder. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To climb by the rungs and the stalks. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Zool.) (a) A stem or peduncle, as of certain barnacles and crinoids. (b) The narrow basal portion of the abdomen of a hymenopterous insect. (c) The peduncle of the eyes of decapod crustaceans. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Founding) An iron bar with projections inserted in a core to strengthen it; a core arbor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Stalk borer (Zool.), the larva of a noctuid moth (Gortyna nitela), which bores in the stalks of the raspberry, strawberry, tomato, asters, and many other garden plants, often doing much injury. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Stalked p. pr. & vb. n. Stalking. ] [ AS. staelcan, stealcian to go slowly; cf. stealc high, elevated, Dan. stalke to stalk; probably akin to 1st stalk. ] 1. To walk slowly and cautiously; to walk in a stealthy, noiseless manner; -- sometimes used with a reflexive pronoun. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Into the chamber he stalked him full still. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Bertran ] stalks close behind her, like a witch's fiend,
Pressing to be employed. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To walk behind something as a screen, for the purpose of approaching game; to proceed under cover. [ 1913 Webster ]

The king . . . crept under the shoulder of his led horse; . . . “I must stalk, ” said he. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

One underneath his horse, to get a shoot doth stalk. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To walk with high and proud steps; -- usually implying the affectation of dignity, and indicating dislike. The word is used, however, especially by the poets, to express dignity of step. [ 1913 Webster ]

With manly mien he stalked along the ground. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Then stalking through the deep,
He fords the ocean. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

I forbear myself from entering the lists in which he has long stalked alone and unchallenged. Merivale. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To approach under cover of a screen, or by stealth, for the purpose of killing, as game. [ 1913 Webster ]

As for shooting a man from behind a wall, it is cruelly like to stalking a deer. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To follow (a person) persistently, with or without attempts to evade detection; as, the paparazzi stalk celebrities to get candid photographs; obsessed fans may stalk their favorite movie stars. [ PJC ]

n. 1. A high, proud, stately step or walk. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thus twice before, . . .
With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The which with monstrous stalk behind him stepped. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act or process of stalking.

When the stalk was over (the antelope took alarm and ran off before I was within rifle shot) I came back. T. Roosevelt. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Having a stalk or stem; borne upon a stem. [ 1913 Webster ]

Stalked barnacle (Zool.), a goose barnacle, or anatifer; -- called also stalk barnacle. --
Stalked crinoid (Zool.), any crinoid having a jointed stem. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who stalks. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A kind of fishing net. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Having the eyes raised on a stalk, or peduncle; -- opposed to sessile-eyed. Said especially of podophthalmous crustaceans. [ 1913 Webster ]

Stalk-eyed crustaceans. (Zool.) See Podophthalmia. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A horse, or a figure resembling a horse, behind which a hunter conceals himself from the game he is aiming to kill. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fig.: Something used to cover up a secret project; a mask; a pretense. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hypocrisy is the devil's stalking-horse under an affectation of simplicity and religion. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

How much more abominable is it to make of him [ Christ ] and religion a stalking-horse, to get and enjoy the world! Bunyan. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having no stalk. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Hard as a stalk; resembling a stalk. [ 1913 Webster ]

At the top [ it ] bears a great stalky head. Mortimer. [ 1913 Webster ]